Oil tankers are beginning to test the waters at the Strait of Hormuz. At least eight crude carriers started advancing toward the chokepoint within hours of Iran declaring the Strait open to shipping under a ceasefire framework. Five vessels that had been idling north of Dubai moved first, followed by three more positioned roughly 70 miles west, according to vessel tracking data cited by Bloomberg. It’s the first real sign of life in a corridor that has effectively been frozen since late February, when conflict in the region choked off flows…

Oil tankers are beginning to test the waters at the Strait of Hormuz. At least eight crude carriers started advancing toward the chokepoint within hours of Iran declaring the Strait open to shipping under a ceasefire framework. Five vessels that had been idling north of Dubai moved first, followed by three more positioned roughly 70 miles west, according to vessel tracking data cited by Bloomberg. It’s the first real sign of life in a corridor that has effectively been frozen since late February, when conflict in the region choked off flows…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 543,  down 42 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs slipped by 1 to 410 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 63 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 2 after falling in the week prior as well. Gas rigs now sit at 125, which is 19 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous…

As US President Donald Trump says the war in Iran could be over "very soon" and Pakistani mediators in Tehran prepare to meet with officials, another nearby conflict has been drawing Beijing's attention. Since late February, fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has intensified, with Islamabad declaring an "open war" with its neighbor. Strikes have killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan. The conflict has alarmed the international…

The Spanish market and competition regulator on Friday opened probes into potential breaches of power sector rules as part of a wider investigation into last year's blackout in the country. Spain's grid buckled on April 28, 2025, leaving the country, most of Portugal, and, for shorter periods of time, parts of France, without electricity. Investigations and multiple reports have found over the past year that the immediate cause of the worst blackout Europe has ever seen in modern times was a surge in voltage. On Friday, the Spanish market and competition…

The Spanish market and competition regulator on Friday opened probes into potential breaches of power sector rules as part of a wider investigation into last year's blackout in the country. Spain's grid buckled on April 28, 2025, leaving the country, most of Portugal, and, for shorter periods of time, parts of France, without electricity. Investigations and multiple reports have found over the past year that the immediate cause of the worst blackout Europe has ever seen in modern times was a surge in voltage. On Friday, the Spanish market and competition…

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are predicting growth rates to slow in the coming years across Central Asia and the Caucasus. Azerbaijan is projected to be the lone state in the two regions to buck the trend and register moderate growth. The economic disruption created by the US-Israeli blitz on Iran is a wild-card factor affecting growth projections, according to the two banks’ most recent updates. The World Bank’s Economic Update for the Europe and Central Asia region also cites geopolitical tensions and trade fragmentation…

A milder 2025 summer and heavy rainfalls in the monsoon season later dragged down the growth in India's electricity consumption in the fiscal year ended March 2026 to the lowest level in six years. The electricity supplied by India's state power retailers between April 2025 and March 2026 increased by less than 1% compared to the previous fiscal year, according to data from the country's Central Electricity Authority cited by Bloomberg. The growth was India's slowest since the 2020-2021 fiscal year when the Covid pandemic and related restrictions…